Production of mechanically bundled yarns



Nov. 3,1970 HIROSHIRO KIMURA ETA!- 3,537,251

PRODUCTION OF MECHANICALLY BUNDLED YARNS Filed June 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1-1;;2 fig: 3 yaw 1 lfghm gfi e's Q T {y fig: 4

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fig-.5 Ii .6 m f 52 1 1 "21 14% i fig: 7 V(/) 5:10;? ART Y A v ,1 t w g9 M2) Nov. 3, 1 970 HIROSHIRO KIMURA' ETAI- v 5 3 PRODUCTION OF MECHANICALLY BUNDLED YARNS Filed June 4. 1968 2 s eets-sheet 2 fig: 8

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3,537,251 PRODUCTION OF MECHANICALLY BUNDLED YARNS Hiroshiro Kimura and Akio Koshimo, Uji-shi, Matafumi Ishibashi, Miyako, Yoshinori Mineda, Uji-shi, and Kentaro Kamamoto, Kyoto-shi, Japan, assignors to Nippon Rayon Kabushiki Kaisha (Nippon Rayon Company Limited), Uji-shi, Japan, a body corporate of Japan Filed June 4, 1968, Ser. No. 734,399 Claims priority, application Japan, June 6, 1967, 42/36,095, 42/336,096 Int. Cl. D02g 1/02, 3/26 U.S. Cl. 57-140 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In conventional textile operations, such as winding, knitting and weaving, zero twist yarn or low twist yarn has poor performance due to the loose structure which permits separation and breakage of filaments, fiuffs, wraps, etc. To overcome such disadvantages, conventionally, there is imparted to the textile yarn a true twist sometimes further sized. But such a true twisting is time-consuming and expensive, and moreover such a mechanical twisting often deteriorates the physical properties of yarns.

If a yarn having sutficient handling and running properties could be obtained without a true-twisting operation, the advantages thus obtained are apparent. It has therefore been desired to obtain a coherent yarn bundle without true twisting so as to give good running and handling properties.

Several attempts have been suggested for this purpose.

In one such attempt, it has been suggested tointermittently contact a yarn with friction means, so as to impart an alternate twist. The yarn is twisted to S- (or Z-) direction in a section of the yarn, and is twisted to Z- (or 8-) direction in the subsequent section. The yarn obtained has successive sections of S-twist and Z-twist. The obtained yarn is, however, unstable in structure and the alternate twist is liable to eliminate under tension. This is because the alternate twist is merely imparted to the yarn as a whole and can only provide poor cohesion properties.

OBJECT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanically bundled yarn having an improved alternate twist and good cohesion properties.

United States Patent 0 3,537,251 Patented Nov. 3, 1 970 Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing the same.

Other objects of the present invention will be apparent upon reading the undergoing specification and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In the drawings, which illustrate the invention:

FIG. 1 shows schematically a side view of an embodiment of the mechanically bundled yarn obtained by the present invention.

FIGS. 2 to 4 illustrate schematically the cross sectional views of another embodiment of the yarn, which is obtained by the present invention.

FIGS. 5 to 7 illustrate schematically the cross-sectional views of the conventional alternate twist yarn.

FIG. 8 represents a contacting state between a yarn and a friction means according to the prior art for producing alternate twist yarn.

FIG. 9 represents a contacting state between a yarn and a friction means according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 12 represent front views of the embodiment of friction means useful according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 13 represent corresponding side views of the above friction means shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 12, respectively.

FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 illustrate schematically a preferred embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out the process according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE YARN According to the present invention, there is provided a mechanically bundled yarn having an improved alternate twist characterized by:

(a) That the yarn is composed of at least 2 members, each of which is composed of one or more filamentary structures,

(b) That at least two of said members, each of which is twisted alternately in the S or Z direction, are entwisted alternately in the S or Z direction, wherein at least two of said members are substantially entwisted in the opposite direction to the twist of each member.

Hereinafter, the term a filamentary structure denotes a continuous filament, a continuous multifilament yarn or a spun yarn.

It is preferable that the filamentary structure is a continuous filament or a continuous multifilament yarn. Also, it is preferable that the yarn is made of man-made fibers such as, e.g., regenerated fibers (e.g., viscose rayon, cellulose acetate, etc.), synthetic fibers (e.g., polyamide fibers, polyester fibers, polyvinyl alcohol fibers, fibers made of copolymers or mixture thereof, etc.), and combinations of the foregoing.

Since the construction of the mechanically bundled yarn according to the present invention is complicated and may vary with various factors, it is advantageous to describe the construction of the yarn with reference to FIG. 1 illustrating schematically a preferred embodiment of the yarn according to the present invention.

The yarn is composed of four filamentary structures F1, F2, F3 and F4, each two of which comprises one member. In the section X(1), filamentary structures F1 and F2, and and filamentary structures F3 and F4 are imparted respectively with the S-twist to form members A(l) and B(l), and said members A(l) and B(l) are entwisted in the Z-direction. In the section Y(1), F1, F2, F3 and F4 are substantially parallel to each other and are in zero-twist. In the section Z(1), filamentary structures F1 and F2, and filamentary structures F3 and F4 are imparted respectively with the Z-twist to form members A(2) and B(2) respectively, and members A(2) and B(2) are entwisted in the S-direction. The construction of the section V(l) is substantially similar to that of the section Y(1), and the construction of the section X(2) is similar to that of section X(1). The yarn has successively repeating units of X(1)Y(1)-Z(1) V(1). Better results can be obtained when the yarn is composed of at least 5 members.

The bundled'yarn obtained by the process of the present invention has good cohesion properties and can be treated advantageously with ease equal or superior to that of the conventional unidirectionally twisted yarn in various textile operations. Moreover, the bundled yarn produced by the present invention has a beautiful appearance and uniform dyeability.

The feature of the construction of the mechanically bundled yarn obtained by the present invention is further illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4 showing schematically the cross-sectional views of the adjacent 3 sections of the yarn. In FIG. 2, each member is imparted with the counter-clockwise twist with other members, and each member itself is twisted in the clockwise direction. In FIG. 3, all filamentary structures have substantially zero twist. In

'FIG. 4, each member is imparted with a clockwise twist.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS According to the present invention, there is provided a process for producing a mechanically bundled yarn having ani improved alternate twist characterized by the steps of:

(a) Running a plurality of members, each of which is composed of one or more filamentary structures, in substantially parallel and slightly spaced relationship with each other under a tension along a path;

(b) Placing said members intermittently into contact with a friction'means so as to form the bundled yarn.

In ,order to impart the members with a torque from the frictional means individually and concurrently, a.

slight space should be kept between respective members. An excessively spaced member can give rise to the diflicultyof obtaining final twist which would be given by leaving the members therefrom.

A conventional contacting state between a yarn and a friction means for producing an alternate twist yarn is shown in FIG. 8. Contacting state between a yarn and.

a friction means according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 9. In a conventional process shown in -FIG. 8, twist torque is given to a yarn as a whole. On the other hand, in the present process shown in FIG. 9, twist torque is given in the same direction to each member of filamentary structure individually. Thus, the twist mechanism of the present invention differs from a conventional process.

As a friction means according to the process of the pr e t invention, a rotatable m ans such a a, a d s a tube, an endless belt, etc., can be used. Such friction means can be used in combination with a yarn-traversing means such as a traverse guide, which intermittently contact the yarn with said friction means, whereby good results can be achieved. An eccentric disc, a cam, an annular cam and the like may be used as a friction means so that the yarn is contacted intermittently with the peripheral surface of said friction means without a yarntraversing means.

The surface of a friction means which contacts the yarn is necessarily composed of a material having a high coeflicient of friction with said yarn. For example, natural rubber, polyurethane, polybntadiene, poly-chloroprene and other synthetic rubbers having suitable hardness and antiabrasion property, may be used as a material for frictional surface.

The tension of said members of the filamentary structures should be sufiiciently high to place them into contact tightly with the frictional surface, so as to impart to them a sufiicient torque.

In the present invention, when said members leave the friction means so as to eliminate a part of the imparted torque therefrom, at least two of said members are entwistedin the opposite direction to that of the twist of said members whereby it is possible to obtain the yarn according to the present invention which has a stable and duplex structure.

A continuous filament or a multifilament yarn can advantageously be treated ,by this process. Also, a spun yarn can be treated by this process.

According to another featureof the present invention, it is also possible to produce the mechanically bundled yarn having an improved alternate twist by:

(a) Progressing a multifilament yarn along a path,

(b) Separating said multifilament yarn into plural members, each of which'is composed of one or more filaments, whereby said members are positioned in substantially parallel and slightly spaced relationship with each other under a tension,

(c) Placing said members intermittently into contact with the friction means so as to form the bundled yarn.

The process according to the present invention can with advantage be carried out by using a multifilament yarn, which has a twist of less than 50 turns per meter includmg zero.

According to this process, the multifilament yarn can be separated to plural members by means of blowing a fluid jet to the multifilament yarn. As the fluid jet, an inert gas, preferably air, can be used. Also, the multifilamentyarn can be separated to plural members by means of a suitable electrostatic method. In this case, numbers of the members depend upon various operational conditions such as, e.g., shape of the nozzle or electrical charging rod, fluid pressure or electrical intensity forward properties of the filaments used, etc., although numbers of the filaments in total are unchanged.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION FIG. 14 shows a preferred embodiment of apparatus for carrying out the process according to the present invention. The multifilament yarn 1 is supplied from a supplying bobbin, and is processed through a pair of feed rollers 2 and a guide 3. It is separated into plural members which are then contacted with a moving surface of an eccentrically rotatable disc 4 having an axis arranged substantially parallel to the multifilament yarn path determined by the guides 3 and 3'. The yarn guides 3 and 3' are provided in such a manner that the'multifilament yarn would be contacted with the periphery of its longer radius, while it would not be contacted with the periphery of its shorter radius. A nozzle 5 is provided in such a manner that the fluid jet is blown onto. the multifilament yarn before the moving surface. The multifilament yarn is separated to plural groups composed of one or more filaments,

TABLE 1A and 1s twisted intermittently and concurrently by the disc 4, and is taken up by the take-up roller 6 through the guide (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 3'. The yarn is then heat-set by using a heater 7 under a A Eccentric disc 10 1 Polyurethane rubber. low tension provided by roller and take-up units 8 and 9. 5 2 8:? 83- FIG. 15 shows another embodiment of an apparatus for 6 2 carrying out the process of the present invention. In this gflccentric disc shownin Fig. 10 and Fig. 11. case, plural yarns are supplied respectively from different T ffrlctio 111 ns (1. bobbins 10(a), 10 5 through guides 11(a), E2; 1332? use 3 iametero isc (0111.). a co'ntacted mtermlttnt 1O (4) Distance between center of disc and center Ofshait (cm.). ly and concurrently with a rotating disc 4 so as to be im- (5) Materials or friction surface. parted with a twist-torque. The yarn obtained is taken up through a guide 3' and rollers 6 onto a winder 9. It TABLE 13 is preferable to dispose guides 3(a)3(c) as nearly (5) as Possible to each other, as far yarns 15 E Cinicentric disc- 3.0 2.6 45 Polyurethane rubber.

i ecam can individually twisted. Details of the operational 3.0 2' 6 90 Naturalmbben c0nd1t1011 are Shown in Table 3. G "do 3. 0 2. 6 60 Polychloroprene rubber.

In the following examples and tables, the degre of the .Concentfic dischke cam Shown in Fig 12 and Fig separation of the yarn obtained is designated at d value zfi friction mean (a low d value means a high cohesion), which is deterfigg Dun Fig 12 (on). mined in the following manner: f z gf ggm y i- 12 (a) A yarn sample about 2 meters in length was hung by (6) fixing its upper end and by loading at its lower end with a load of 0.2 gram per denier. A hook having a weight of (deniers of monofilament 3/5) grams was then in- EXA LE 1 o 1 serted at its upper end. After the hook moved downwardly and stopped, the distance of the movement of said hook d Exampleshl 9 g 'ai g l were f g g to was measured. Similar measurements were repeated sev- 332 5 223 ipgg i ggg gg pfigg g' bidvlst ws'd f tlmeis From thee ta He a ylel ed an vention, each of which is substantially slmilar to that allthmetlc mefms Value fepfesentlflg dVa1u6- shown in FIG. 14. Different embodiments of the friction As shown in Table 1A and 1B, several embodiments of means di g to the present invention as shown in the friction means according to the present invention are Table 1A and Table 1B were used, and the results obused in examples. 35 tained are given in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Example 1 Nylon 6 (/24) 0 A 1,200 500 Air 2.5 8.8 2 do 0 A 1,200 500 do 2.5 450 180 8.5 a .00 0 A 1,200 500 Nitrogen gas 2.5 450 180 8.7 4 do 0 B 3,000 500 Air 2.0 450 180 6.0 5 5n 0 0 4, 500 350 do 2.0 5.3 6 Nylon 6.6 (70/24) 0 D 4, 500 350 do 2.0 5.5 7 do 0 E 4, 500 350 do 2.0 5.2 8 do 0 F 4,000 400 do 2.0 6.0 9 Cellulose acetate (ISO/40)", 20 G 4,000 400 do 2.0 5.8 10. PET *1 (/36) 20 F 4,500 500 do 2.0 6.3 11- .do 20 F 6,000 500 o 2.0 4.2 12- PAN *2 (75/38). 20 F 4,500 400 do 2.0 6.2 13 PEB *3 (70/36)--. 0 F 4, 500 400 do 2.0 6.5 14. PEE *4(70/34 0 F 4, 500 400 do 2.0 6.4 15. PPE *5(70/24) 20 F 4,500 400 do 2.0 6.6 16 Viscose rayon (/40) 40 F 4,500 400 do 2.0 5. 6

NOTE:

(A) Type of yarn (total deniers/filaments):

*1. Polyethylene terephthalate. *2. Polyacrylom'trile. *3. Polyethylene oxybenzoate. *4. Copolyester-ether: Copolymer consisting of two different recurring units composed of 50 mol percent ethylene terephthalate units and 50 mol percent ethylene 1.4 diphenoxy butane P, P dicarboxylate units *5. Polypropylene oxybenzoate. (B) Yarn twist (turns/meter). (C) Type of friction means. (D) Rotating speed of friction means (r.p.m.). (E) Yarn speed (meter/minute). (F) Kind of fluid. (G) Pressure of fluid (atm.). (H) Length of heater (mm). (I) Eem erature oi heater 0.).

(J) d value (cm).

7 EXAMPLE 17 of 300 meters/minute and rubbed under a tension of about 60 grams/70 denier by means of electrical chargings rods to result in the separation of the fed material. The multifilament yarn wascontacted intermittently'with disc F (see Table 2) rotating at 4,500 r.p.m., passed through a guide 3, passed through rollers 6 and' 8, and was wound onto the winder 9. Heat setting of the yarn was not carried out. The yarnobtained had a 77 value of 6.1 cm. i

EXAMPLE 18 7 U A similarapparatus'to that'd'escribedin Example 17 was used to produce a mechanically bundled yarn. A zero-twist nylon 6 multifilament'yarn, 70 denier/24 filaments, was fed with a speed of 450 meters/minute and was rubbed under a tension of about 65 grams/70 denier with the charging rods. At the same time, the multifilament yarn was blown by air at a pressure of 2 kg./cm. through the nozzle 5, and then treated in similar manner to that described 'in Example 17. The yarn obtained had a Zvalue of 5.6 cm.

EXAMPLES 19-21 Examples 19 to 21 were respectively carried out to produce a mechanically bundled yarn by using the apparatus as shown in FIG. 15, wherein the friction means as shown in Table 1A and Table 1B is used. The results are shown in Table 3. Numbers of guide 3 used are shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Example No. A B c D E F G 19 Nylon6(30l7) 4'11 1,200 500 11.0 20 Nylon6(50/12) 0 4 A 1,200. 500 15.5 21 PET *1(s0 12 20. '4 A 1,200 500 V 11.5

NOTE:

(A) Type of yarn (total deneirs/filaments): *1 same as Table 2. (B) Yarn twist (turns/meter).

(0) Numbers of guide 3.

(D) T ype of friction means.

(E; Rotating speed of friction means (F Yarn speed (meters/minute) (G) 'dvalue.

(rip.m.).

Having described the present invention, that whichis (c) in the subsequentsection the filaments are substantially parallel and are in zero-twist arrangement,

(d) in the next section the filamentary structures are in a Z-twist arrangement to form each of said members, and the members are entwisted in the S-dire'ction,

(e) and in the next section the filaments are again substantially parallel and are in zero-twist arrangement.

2. A mechanically bundled yarn according to claim 1 in which the filamentary structure is a continuous filament or a continuous multifilament yarn.

3. A mechanically bundled yarn according to claim 1, in whichthe yarn is made of a regenerated fiber.

4. A mechanically bundled yarn according to claim 3, in which theyarn is made of a memberof the group consistingof viscose rayon, cellulose acetate and mixturethereof;

5. A mechanically bundled yarn according to claim 1, in which the yarn is made of a thermoplastic fiber.

6. A mechanically bundled yarn-according to claim 5, in which the yarn is made :of a member selected from the group consisting of polyamide, polyester, polyacrylonitrile, polyolefine, polyvinyl-alcohol, and mixture thereof.

7. A process for producing a mechanically bundled yarn having an improved alternate twist characterized by the steps of:

(a) progressing a multifilament yarn along a path,

(b) separating said multifilament "yarn into plural members, each of which is composed of one or more filaments, whereby said members are positioned in substantially parallel and slightly spaced relationship with each other under a tension,

(c) placing said members intermittently into contact with a cam means so as to impart a twist torque in the same direction to each member individually, said twist torque being effective on each member so as to entwist it in the adverse direction whereby the bundled yarn is formed.

8. A process according to claim 7 in which the multifilament yarn is separated into said plural members by jetting a compressed fluid.

sought to be protected is set forth in the following claims.

9. A process according to claim 7 in which the multifilament yarn is electrostatically separated into said plural members.

10. A process according to claim 7 in which the multifilament yarn has a twist of less than 50 turns/meter.

References Cited UNITED ,STATES PATENTS 3,225,533 12/1965 'I-Ienshaw 57-34 3,306,023 2/1967 Henshaw et a1. 57 156 3,377,792 4/ 1968 Walls et al. 57-773 3,434,275 3/1969 Backer et a1. 57156 XR 3,443,370 5/1969 Walls 57-156 XR STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner US. c1. X.R. 

